Octagon First Call

Could Host Steve Jones Be The X Factor’s Real Winner?

Putting The X Factor’s ratings potential aside, let’s take a look at the marketability of its main personalities.  Behind the judges table, we have music producer L.A. Reid, Pussycat Dolls front-woman Nicole Scherzinger, former American Idol host Paula Abdul, and Mr. Simon Cowell himself.  While Reid has worked most his life behind the scenes and Simon tends to focus his sponsorship towards his own projects, Scherzinger has done commercials with Nike and Clear Shampoo and Paula utilized her Idol career to launch her short-lived competition show Live To Dance on CBS, painting the ladies as inclined to do more brand partnerships.

While this team has potential to swell in the public eye - a la Jennifer Lopez, who recently launched a line with Kohl's, starred in Fiat's latest commercial, appeared in ads for Venus razors, repped L'Oreal's EverSleek, and whose song “On the Floor” was her first Billboard Top 10 since 2003 - the real potential for an X Factor breakthrough is its Welsh host, Steve Jones.  His presence on FOX has the potential to grip American audiences, depending on both his performance as a host and the show’s fate.  If the winds are in his favor, Jones can see the same career boosts similar to other competition hosts like Mario Lopez (Extra, CW’s new project H8R, and more), Tom Bergeron (Dancing with the Stars host and author of I’m Hosting As Fast As I Can published by Harper Collins), or Ryan Seacrest (a post-Idol TV, radio, and social media giant), each whose hosting gig has prompted bigger and better deals.

Who will be the biggest breakthrough on the X-Factor this season?